It's not just a clever gimmick. At Kuma no Te -- Bear Paw -- in Osaka, Japan, customers are never required to have face-to-face or skin-to-skin contact with an employee. For people who find such sensory stimulation unpleasant, that's a strong selling point. Sora News 24 explains:

As it turns out, this style of service, where customers collect their orders from a hole in the wall, is ideal for staff as well. And for those wanting to work but unable to, due to mental health challenges and sensitivities connected to face-to-face contact, contactless services like these can open up all sorts of new opportunities for employment. [...]

With face-to-face contact being a stress trigger for a number of their clients, Mental Health came up with the brilliant idea of setting up a cafe where staff don’t have to see or be seen by customers. And the problem of skin-to-skin contact was also solved with fluffy bear gloves, which staff use to hand out drinks and sweets through the small opening in the wall.

Photo: PR Times

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Brodie Moss is an adventurer who enjoys kayaking on the open ocean. He's Australian, and is thus unafraid of any snake smaller than a telephone pole.

There really is nothing to worry about. The snake is trying to mate with him, not eat him. So it's okay.

-via Dave Barry

Does it sound like a suspiciously too Irish thing to do? The technique was actually pioneered by the ancient Romans. Trails paved with layers of wool erode slower than other materials and are more environmentally friendly than synthetics. The Irish Times talked to Bryan Fennell, a recreation official in northern (lower-case n) Ireland:

The process involves a layer of fleeces being placed under four layers of stone.

“Over the last few years, walking has exploded as a sport in Ireland,” explained Mr Fennell. He said some walkers instinctively avoid muddy areas and spread out over blanket bog, not realising the damage they do as a result.

“What we want to do is create defined tracks,” he added. [...]

“The beauty of this technique is that you can shear sheep on the side of a hill and put the fleece directly into the track because the wool needs no treatment.”

-via Marilyn Terrell | Photo: Bryan Fennell

Storm the dog is interested in both the weather and treats. He strolled across the set while Anthony Farnell of Global News reported on the weather in the Toronto area. Farnell kept on this game, though.

Don't be alarmed by the seemingly low temperatures. The broadcast is using Celsius, not Freedom Units. 20°C is quite comfortable.

-via Amanda Brennan

Some of the video from this afternoon's goings on in Little Albro Lake #dartmouth @chronicleherald pic.twitter.com/wvluxC9EMa

— Halifax NewsP.J. (@HNewspj) August 27, 2021

Content warning: foul language

Police in Halifax, Nova Scotia responded to a report of a robbery at a restaurant. They soon found that the suspect was attempting to flee by swimming across Little Albro Lake. Look at a map to see what an ingenious escape plan this might have been.

An official police boat soon arrived on the scene. But additional naval assets were necessary to trap the suspect. Police improvised with a paddleboat, a canoe, and a paddleboard that were at hand. They soon surrounded and captured the amphibious suspect.

-via Super Punch

I can't find any concrete information about them, but internet rumor says that a notary's office in St. Petersburg, Russia has three chairs that look like huge cans of caviar or sardines. They look both expensive and comfortable.

It's a classic prank some people refer to as "pulling a Bart Simpson", as that cartoon character similarly pranked Moe Szyslak.

Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia held a board meeting and invited public comment. Many people signed up, but did not show up to speak. The first was Phil McCracken, followed by other names that are racy when read out loud.

-via David Burge

食べたスイカの種を発芽させて、ここまで来たけど、身が割れてしまったので収穫。
直径は5センチ弱。
味はしっかり甘くて美味しかった👍
そして種までちゃんとあることに感動。
また、来年やってみよう。 pic.twitter.com/kGmtVfEWEZ

— サンノジ（sannoji） (@sannoji30) August 30, 2021

Twitter user @sannoji30 nurtured some watermelon seeds to life and produced an impressive pair of melons. Although they measure only 2 inches across, they are at least sweet.

TikTok user spacecaptainz should prepare his pet rat for a life of fame and fortune. With his tiny harmonica, this rat can entertain millions, drawing in ticket and MP3 sales. All he needs is a bass as accompaniment.

-via Nag on the Lake

Sometimes, when you have two problems, they cancel each other out. This is not an endorsement of the Molotov cocktail solution by Jason from The Good Place. It is unusual for two problems to eliminate each other, but surfer Shannon Ainslie experienced just that.

Ainslie writes in The Guardian about a surfing trip in South Africa. A Great White Shark bit him in the hand and dragged him under. Then a different shark tried to bite him:

Under the water, another shark swiped for my head and my shoulders, but missed, because the other had got me first.

That second shark ended up saving my life. Perhaps startled by the competition, the first shark lost its grip on me. I thought I was dreaming; everything seemed to slow down. I started to feel pain and the next thing I knew I was staring a shark straight in the face. I think the shark was confused because it stared back at me for a few moments as if in awe. Its mouth was wide open; I could see a huge set of teeth and a dark black eye. It bolted past me and I felt a shove from behind – it must have brushed along my back, but thankfully it had not bitten me. After it passed, I swam to the surface as fast as I could.

-via Nag on the Lake | Photo: Hermanus Backpackers

Each one of Marisa Stratton's classmates appears in oil paint on panels measuring 1 by 2 inches. It's part of a series of painting collections inspired by the pandemic-induced Zoom lifestyle, including a virtual infant baptism and an online birthday party.

Stratton comments that after she painted the set, she invited her classmates to critique her portraits of them.

-via Super Punch

Stefani's powerfully rhythmic "Hollaback Girl" rocked us in 2005. YouTube's greatest gift to humanity, There, I Ruined It has adapted it for the ragtime tunes of a century ago. The song speeds up so that Stefani is putting her audience back in their place at a faster pace. It's a wonderful way to enter and take control of the speakeasy.

Content warning: foul language.

For 32 years, actor Peter Falk played the role of Frank Colombo, a LAPD detective who could intuitively know who had committed murders that he investigated. In 69 television movies, Colombo gradually ensnared each murderer who thought that he was far too clever for the seemingly erratic, dim-witted detective.

Falk played other roles, including the grandfather in The Princess Bride. But he best known as Colombo.

Yet Falk did far more than just act. He was also an artist. A tweet by Diane Doniol-Valcroze alerted me to his self-portraits as Colombo. Pictured above is one sold by the Bonham's action house.

(They Can Talk/Jimmy Craig)

Don't just bring a bag. Bring a roll of bags. You need a backup plan in case your dog is backed up. Listen to your dog's warnings.

Oreo's new ad campaign suggests that new packages could help protect your packages of cookies from thieving kids. What kid (or adult) would actually want to eat cauliflower and rice? Yes, you might see it in the refrigerator, but you won't actually pull it out. Thus the cookies inside are safe.